“Old?” His mouth twitched. “I suppose technically I am.”
I am?Hewas Old Vitra?
This male, in his prime? Okay, so he had a streak of silver in his shoulder-length dark hair, but it was much too perfect to be natural.
The port behind me crackled and died, becoming nothing but an innocuous stone arch once more. There was another behind Vitra. This was obviously a port room, like the one at the Border House, but smaller.
He watched me process, his eyes flinching slightly as if he too was processing something. “Why are you here, Miss Onyx?”
“If you’re Vitra, then you know why I’m here.”
“Yes, yes. But why? Why bother coming to a place where most everyone hates you?” He sounded genuinely interested.
“Most everyone hates me wherever I go. At least here, there’s a chance I might get something out of it.”
“If you’re expecting acceptance, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”
What the hell did he know about disappointment? Standing there in his expensive shirt and slacks, with his perfect hair and that sympathetic look on his beautiful face. “Fuck acceptance. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me. I’m here to claim what’s rightfully mine—myfamily’s power back. It’s been kept from my bloodline long enough.” My mother’s frail form filled my mind’s eye, her dark eyes brimming with pain and the aching sorrow of a life saturated with loss. The Arcanum Imperium had done this to her. Punishing her for a crime committed over a century ago. A crime that was probably a lie. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “We’ve suffered long enough.”
He looked down his nose at me, a cold, assessing gaze that made me want to curl in on myself and hide. “And what if the Coterie denies your request?”
I lifted my chin in defiance. “On what grounds?”
The corner of his mouth turned up, but there was no warmth in the half smile. In fact, if I was reading it right, it was a smile of pity. My scalp prickled with unease.
“There arealwaysgrounds,” he said. “TheArcanum Lexkeepers are paid handsomely to find them. And you, Miss Onyx, have given them three weeks to do so.”
Well, that explained their stallingandhis pitying smile. “I didn’tgivethem anything. This was the date they provided.”
“Becausetheyare in control here.”
“Maybe, but I can be a pain in the ass, Mr. Vitra. Trust me, I’ve had practice, and if you’re here to feel me out and report back to the Coterie, then you can tell them to be prepared to cut the bullshit. I have enough time and funds to tie them up in legal knots for the foreseeable future.”
Every coin in the Onyx wealth fund was now mine. As the last living Onyx, I was the heir to it all. I could buy an island if I wanted, but what Iwantedwas closure. What Iwantedwas justice with a hot slice of vengeance.
“I’ll be sure to pass on the message.” He walked off, heels clipping on wood. “Come. I’ll show you to your room.”
I was forced to trot to keep up with his long stride, which I was sure he was deliberately lengthening. But I’d be damned if I asked him to slow down. I could keep up just fine.
As we walked, I took in my surroundings. Whereas the Border House had been all stone and metal framework, this tower featured plastered walls and high, arched ceilings etched with intricate vine-like patterns, giving it a warmer, homey feel. The lights were low, with only every other electric wall sconce lit, leaving patches of darkness in between.
Vitra cut a regal figure. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Nice ass. The kind that begged to be cupped and squeezed. Times like this, I missed the ability to feel the pleasure of physical touch.
When my curse activated at sixteen, stealing two senses that I’d taken for granted, it hadn’t immediately seemed like such a huge deal. I’d done a ton of reading to understand the parameters of my curse—how my body hadn’t lost its ability to feel sensation like pressure, heat, or cold, and yet failed to translate those sensations into pain or pleasure.
The loss of pain, in many ways, was a blessing, as long as I was careful. But losing physical pleasure? Well, the enormity ofthatloss registered with my first sexual encounter. I could be drawn to someone—lured by attraction, aroused mentally and emotionally—but there would be no physical sensation of pleasure in the act of sex unless I remained mentally aroused.
So far, no male had succeeded in keeping me that way.
I’d learned to fill in the blanks, tricking my mind into believing I was feeling more than I was. It worked…sometimes. But right now, watching this fine male specimen make his way down the corridor, I was reminded that the only pleasure I’d ever experienced with a man was in my head. Thank Trinity for vivid imaginations.
We took a left onto a passage lined with vaulted windows looking out into the night, where the majestic Main Building sat on an island in the middle of the churning sea, its many windows brightly lit from within. Waves crashed and foamed against the cliffs that surrounded it, and two white bridges gleamed in the moonlight, stretching from the mainland and rising high above the waves to connect to the island. But no struts or framework were visible to explain how they were held up.
“Miss Onyx?” Vitra called from a door farther up the corridor. “I don’t have all night.”
I tore myself from the view and hurried to join him. “How did they build it?”
He pushed open the door and slipped through. “Build what?”
